Editing Crusaders (section)

== Crusader Houses ==

Like the [[Imperial Knight|Imperial Knights]], each Crusader come from a noble family dubbed as Crusader Houses. Because of their close links with the Inquisition, Crusaders are thus almost utterly loyal and are sworn to serve the agents of the Inquisition with no regard for their own desires whatsoever. These puissant warriors are inducted into one of the Crusader Houses, each of which is a closed and secretive community with as few as a dozen or as many as several thousand members. Many of these Houses are located near to Inquisitorial facilities, and some are housed inside the larger Inquisitorial fortresses.

An example is the Tricorn in Hive Sibellus on Scintilla which hosts a number of Crusader Houses, the warriors of each always close at hand to accompany Throne Agents wherever their duties may take them. The duty of a Crusader is to protect a specific Inquisitor, to whom he is bonded by a solemn, unbreakable oath. However, they are more than mere bodyguards. A Crusader is the Inquisitor’s right hand which delivers the coup de grâce or parries the attacks of his foe. Thus they are often the most trusted companion an Inquisitor can have, which is often needed due to the Inquisitor's often [[Paranoia|paranoid views on outsiders and especially other Inquisitors.]] Like their suped-up brothers, the [[Grey Knights]]; to have been inducted into a Crusader House, the warrior must have been judged nigh-incorruptible, at least in so far as any mortal can be judged so. Induction into a Crusader House occurs only at the invitation of one of its senior members, and only after the subject has been scrutinized from a distance, sometimes for many years. Therefore to become a Crusader, one must prove themselves pure and noble in the highly meritocratic system of the Inquisition, of course it is by choice as the Inquisition in a rare case of being reasonable, aren't a fan towards dogmatism and are pragmatic so long as it suits their needs. Having joined the cloistered ranks of the Crusaders, the inductee puts aside all thoughts of personal ambition and dedicates himself body and soul to the House and the greater cause pursued by the Holy Orders of the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor]]’s Inquisition. From that moment on, the Crusader casts off wealth and all possessions beside his weapons, armour, and the articles of his faith. He takes residence in a bare stone cell within the Crusader House until such time as he is called upon to serve an Inquisitor. This is often a test of humbleness and selflessness in order to weed out any potential personal sins that may hamper a Crusader's quest of enlightenment. This type of actions can actually be seen by real life Buddhist monks of [[Asians|Asia]] and Priests (At least the non-corrupt cultist ones) in Europe.

Crusaders study every aspect of the arts of close combat, excelling in the use of melee weapons. For some reason, they eschew ranged weapons, believing that the pure essence of duty is only to be found in the clash of steel on steel, where blood is shed and bone shatters asunder. As you can expect it is often seen as a bit ''too'' [[Imperial Worlds#Feudal Worlds|traditional]] and are often seen as a flashing target practice for the occasional [[Tau]] and [[Eldar]]. Crusader Houses teach many and varied martial techniques, many houses favoring a specific, signature weapon by which its members are known. They also bear the intricately inscribed names and deeds of former owners, reminding the current bearer of his duties and that the eyes of the past are ever upon him.

Of course a Crusader still has strong familiar ties with the Ecclesiarchy and will come to assist them (Albeit in small numbers) if the need arises such as protecting important priests to going on Wars of Faith to even participating in an actual Crusade along with the [[Black Templars]] to further hone in the neo-medieval theme of WH40K to an absurd extreme.